Self-hosting shouldn’t be hard. That was the premise of our latest webinar, where Grist software engineer George Gevoian walked through the new setup wizard that makes running your own Grist server something anyone can do, whether or not you’re comfortable with a terminal.

What is self-hosted Grist?

Self-hosted Grist is the same product you know from getgrist.com, just running on hardware you control: a laptop at home, a server on your company’s private network, or a cloud instance on the public internet. Under the hood, it’s the same core functionality. You can open, import, and edit documents, collaborate with other users, and use forms and access rules exactly as you would on the cloud version.

Running the server also gets you more. As the administrator, you get access to the admin panel, where you can monitor server health, review configuration, and turn on features exclusive to self-hosted Grist, like audit logs and advanced admin controls that show you the state of your entire installation.

Why self-host

A few reasons come up most often:

  • Governance and data residency. Legal or organizational requirements that your data stay on hardware you control.
  • Single sign-on. Self-managed Grist supports SAML and OIDC, so your team can log in with your existing identity provider.
  • Hardware flexibility. Since you control the machine, you decide how much CPU and memory to throw at it, which matters if you’re building large documents.
  • Deeper customization. Running on your own hardware gives you the closest possible access for custom scripts and integrations, like Zapier.

If the cloud version already works for you, there’s no need to switch. Both share the same core, so pick self-hosting when you have a specific need for it.

Three ways to get started

George covered three paths:

  1. Official Docker images, deployed with Docker Compose. This is the recommended starting point and what the webinar demo used.
  2. Grist Builder Edition, prepackaged VM images on AWS and Azure that come with Grist pre-installed.
  3. Build from source, since Grist is open source.

The demo: installing on AWS in minutes

Using a one-line install script on a fresh Ubuntu server, George installed Docker, Docker Compose, and Grist itself in a few minutes. From there, he walked through the new setup flow.

Setup starts by verifying ownership of the server with a boot key printed in the server logs (or visible via docker compose logs). After entering the administrator email, the quick setup wizard covers the essentials:

  • Base URL, confirming the public address of your server.
  • Edition, choosing between the free community edition and the full edition, which adds automations, MCP, AI integrations, OIDC, and SAML behind a free 30-day trial.
  • Sandboxing, isolating Python formulas from the host system. G Visor is the default and recommended option. PyOxidizer is slower but more compatible.
  • Authentication, with the simplest option being sign in with getgrist.com, which reuses your existing Grist login (including password resets and two-factor authentication) without extra setup. OIDC and SAML are available on the full edition for organizational SSO.
  • Backups, configuring periodic snapshots to S3 or Azure Blob Storage (or MinIO on the community edition) so a disk failure doesn’t mean data loss.
  • Permissions, covering team sites, personal sites, and anonymous access, with sensible defaults you can tighten or relax.

Once you click “apply and go live,” the server is in service and ready for real use.

Q&A highlights

A few points worth flagging from the live Q&A:

  • All data stays local when self-hosting, including anything processed through the REST API or MCP.
  • Custom widgets can stay entirely offline, either bundled directly with your server via the plugin system or served from a private subnetwork.
  • Backups should prioritize the persist directory, which holds your documents and the home database of users and site information.
  • Updating Grist means pulling a new Docker image and restarting the container. Stable releases ship every few weeks on GitHub.
  • The community edition has the same core functionality as getgrist.com. The full edition adds enterprise features like SSO, audit logging, and advanced admin controls.

Where to go next

Check the self-hosted Grist page in the Grist help center for details on email notifications, SSO configuration, and more. If you’re on the full edition and want to continue past the trial, reach out about an activation key. Free keys are available for qualifying organizations. And for questions along the way, the Grist Discord has a dedicated self-hosting channel.